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One of a new breed of all-girl groups, in a way The Slits epitomised everything that was great about punk, and in the process did a pretty good job of highlighting a few of those things that weren’t so great too. Formed in 1976 when future singer Ari Up (born Adrianna Forster) met drummer Palmolive at a Patti Smith gig, and on the spot decided to form a punk rock group; Tessa Pollitt and Viv Albertine were brought in soon after to complete the line-up. One of the very first all-girl groups to also play their instruments rather than simply sing, the ‘do-it-yourself’ attitude of the punk rock movement coupled with the fact that The Slits, in the beginning at least, were all women, meant The Slits greatly influenced succeeding generations of female musicians, perhaps more than is deserved on their limited recorded output.

Seemingly by sheer determination, and certainly not by musical talent; this was three-chord stuff at its most basic; The Slits managed to snatch themselves a spot opening for The Clash on the latter’s 1977 ‘White Riot’ Tour. This was the first exposure to The Slits for the vast majority of the general public, and their snotty, angry, but catchy and tongue-in-cheek punk ditties generally went down well with the expectant crowds and established them as part of the UK punk hierarchy.

Despite this, The Slits recorded next to nothing until two years later; record labels inexplicably weren’t interested, perhaps for what they saw as the limited commercial potential of the band; in retrospect, obviously a grave mistake on someone’s part. The only available recorded material of them during the punk rock boom is the 1998 BBC collection ‘The Peel Sessions’, a collection of 10 odds and ends recorded for BBC Radio One throughout 1977, and a 2007 live retrospective called ‘In The Beginning’.

Come 1979, the punk rock era had all but passed and ‘post-punk’, a more introverted, experimental form of punk was in vogue. The Slits had secured themselves a record deal, and Palmolive had been replaced by new male drummer Budgie, formerly of The Spitfire Boys, and later to achieve fame with fellow post-punkers Siouxsie & the Banshees. The band had by now, like many others, discovered dub and reggae, and debut studio release Cut was more toned down in its sound, with the distorted guitars and snarling vocals being replaced by thick, steady reggae rhythms and a wailing, vibrato singing style, but the catchy tunes and sarcastic humour remained that made them popular remained.

The album’s cover infamously featured the group (minus Budgie) in nothing but loincloths and a generous splash of mud, and the record, whilst tackling themes typical of the time; consumerism, crime, etc.; is also probably one of the first openly feminist releases out there; songs like ‘Ping Pong Affair’, ‘Love Und Romance’ and ‘Instant Hit’ are light-hearted but scathing attacks on former lovers, real or fictional, and the album closes with an inspired dub-influenced cover of Motown standard ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. If you’re wondering where ‘riot grrrl’ came from, look no further.

The album only just dented the UK Top 30 at the time, but has since become critically acclaimed for its unique style and songwriting. In 2004 The Observer newspaper voted Cut number 58 in their list, The 100 Greatest British Albums.

It was another two years before a new Slits release appeared, and with it came another change of rhythm section, with future Public Image Ltd. drummer and member of The Pop Group Bruce Smith stepping in to fill the gap. The subsequent album Return of the Giant Slits was designed by the band to be more commercial in nature than Cut, but in fact went to the other way. Fans of the early Slits were left even more disappointed this time round, as the group strayed even further from what could be called punk rock, and their fascination with reggae and ethnic instrumentation became an integral part of their sound.

Whilst the darker, avant-garde, even world music direction they seemed to be heading in clearly didn’t bother them, it evidently did the record buying public, and Giant Slits failed to chart in Britain; it wasn’t even released in the US.

By the end of the year, Up was playing with dub-funk collective the New Age Steppers, and that was that; The Slits were no more.

In 2006, after a 25 year break, Up and Pollitt are once again playing under the name The Slits, drafting in ex-Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook and Adam & The Ants’ Marco Pirroni, and the same year released an EP of new material, Revenge of the Killer Slits.

Whilst in the beginning they could barely play their instruments (according to some, Mick Jones had to tune their instruments for them on the White Riot Tour), and some of the songs on The Peel Sessions are nigh-on unlistenable (again, famously, a technician that couldn’t stand any more had to creep out and retune their instruments for them whilst they were busy elsewhere), but they quickly matured as a band; they always sounded like they were doing exactly what they wanted to do, writing songs about what they wanted to sing about, and having a lot of fun in the process. And in the end, isn’t that what punk was all about?

Information about Revenge Of The Killer Slits is available at www.myspace.com/theslits